Metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices are basic building elements in integrated circuits. A conventional MOS device typically has a gate electrode comprising polysilicon doped with p-type or n-type impurities, using doping operations such as ion implantation or thermal diffusion. It is preferred to adjust the work function of the gate electrode to the band-edge of the silicon; that is, for an NMOS device, adjusting the work function close to the conduction band, and for a PMOS device, adjusting the work function close to the valence band. Adjusting the work function of the polysilicon gate electrode can be achieved by selecting appropriate impurities.
MOS devices with polysilicon gate electrodes exhibit carrier depletion effect, which is also referred to as a poly depletion effect. The poly depletion effect occurs when applied electrical fields sweep away carriers from regions close to gate dielectrics, forming depletion layers. In an n-doped polysilicon layer, the depletion layer includes ionized non-mobile donor sites, whereas in a p-doped polysilicon layer, the depletion layer includes ionized non-mobile acceptor sites. The depletion effect results in an increase in the effective gate dielectric thickness, making it more difficult for an inversion layer to be created at the surface of the semiconductor.
The use of thin gate dielectrics tends to make the carrier depletion effect worse. With thin gate dielectrics, the depletion layer in the polysilicon gate becomes more significant in thickness when compared to the thickness of the thin gate dielectrics, and thus device performance degradation worsens. As a result, the carrier depletion effect in the gate electrodes limits device scalability by imposing a lower bound on how much the effective gate dielectric thickness can be reduced.
The poly depletion effect was previously solved by forming metal gate electrodes or metal silicide gate electrodes, wherein the metallic gates used in NMOS devices and PMOS devices also preferably have band-edge work functions. Currently, materials suitable for forming gate electrodes of NMOS devices, such as TaC, have been found. However, for PMOS devices, even though metallic materials having band-edge work functions have been found, these materials have poor thermal stability. When exposed to the high temperatures in the front-end-of-line processes, the work functions of these metallic materials shift, for example, toward the mid-gap level. The performance of the resulting PMOS devices is thus adversely affected.
Existing processes for forming dual-metal complementary MOS (CMOS) devices include two main categories, gate-first approach and gate-last approach. Both approaches have advantageous and disadvantageous features. In a typical gate-first approach, two metal layers having different work functions are separately formed in PMOS and NMOS regions. The metal layers are then patterned to form gate electrodes. Other components of MOS devices, such as spacers, lightly doped source/drain (LDD) regions, source/drain regions, silicides and contact etch stop layers are then formed. This process is relatively simple, and the resulting contact etch stop layers are continuous, so that they can effectively apply stresses. However, since the metal gates are formed before the formation and the activation of LDD regions and source/drain regions, they suffer from high thermal budgets, and the work functions of PMOS devices may shift. In addition, patterning metal layers by etching is relatively difficult.
Gate-last approach, on the other hand, typically includes the steps of forming dummy gates for both PMOS and NMOS devices. LDD regions, gate spacers, source/drain regions and contact etch stop layers are then formed. The dummy gates of PMOS and NMOS devices are then removed, and metals with different work functions are then filled into the openings for PMOS and NMOS devices. In the gate-last approach, metal gates of PMOS devices and NMOS devices both take the advantage of low thermal budgets since they are formed after the formation and activation of LDD regions and source/drain regions. However, the process is complex. In addition, during the step of removing the dummy gates, the portions of contact etch stop layer on the gates are also removed. This results in the significant degradation in the contact etch stop layers' ability of applying stresses.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a semiconductor structure and respective formation methods that may incorporate dual metal gates thereof to take advantage of the benefits associated with band-edge work functions while at the same time overcoming the deficiencies of the prior art.